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The Maryland Terrapins shook off a dismal first half and ran around and through the host Bowling Green Falcons in the second half to claim a 45-14 win on Saturday night at Doyt Perry Stadium.
The Terrapins suffered through a plethora of first half penalties, turnovers and poor third down execution to find themselves down 14-10 at half time. The Falcons got a pair of touchdown passes from Seth Doege, finding Scott Miller from three yards out, and Quintin Morris from 29 yards out.
This was the second week in a row that the Falcons have built an early lead on a power five conference opponent only to have their troubles later in the game. The Falcons had a 10-7 lead after the first quarter last week at Oregon, only to lose 58-24.
Maryland realized the Falcons defense could not stop its run game and the Terrapins simply pounded the ball with its running backs at the Falcons for much of the second half. And it worked. For the game, the Terrapins rushed for 443 yards on 53 attempts and five touchdowns. The Falcons defense had no answer.
Meanwhile, the Falcon offense did absolutely nothing in the second half. In fact, they only had one first down the entire second half and too often went three and out and turned the ball back to Maryland.
The Terrapins had a trio of running backs at or near the century mark for rushing yards in the game, Ty Johnson (124), Tayon Fleet-Davis (102), and Lorenzo Harrison (94). Fleet-Davis had two touchdowns while Harrison and Johnson had one each.
The Falcons had no luck at all trying to run the ball themselves. They only had 15 net yards rushing in the game. The Falcons Andrew Clair finished with 44 yards on 16 carries.
Doege ended the game 17 of 27 for 143 and the two touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked five times by the Terrapins defense. The Falcons were just 4 of 14 on third down conversions for the game.
The Terrapins were penalized a whopping 14 times for 139 yards, but nine of those penalties came in the first half. Maryland finished with 565 yards of total offense to only 158 for the Falcons.
Maryland improves to 2-0 on the year while the Falcons drop to 0-2. The Falcons will remain home next week to entertain the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. The Terrapins return home next week to face Temple.